Burkina Faso: HRW denounces extrajudicial executions

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday denounced extrajudicial executions of 180 people in recent months in Djibo, in the north of Burkina Faso, involving Burkina Faso armed forces. "Mass graves containing at least 180 bodies have been discovered in recent months, and available evidence suggests the involvement of government security forces in mass extrajudicial killings , " said the human rights organization in a report drawn up on the basis of testimonies from residents.

According to residents of Djibo, the dead, all men, were abandoned in groups of three to twenty along the main roads, under bridges, as well as in fields and vacant lots. These are residents who buried the bodies in mass graves "in March and April" , "with the approval of military and local authorities," says HRW. According to testimony, the majority of the victims were men belonging to the Fulani and Fulani ethnic groups, among whom the jihadist groups that have bloodied Burkina Faso for five years recruit mainly.

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"The authorities of Burkina Faso should urgently reveal who made Djibo a site for summary executions , " said HRW West Africa director Corinne Dufka, quoted in the report. "Existing information points to government security forces, so it is essential to conduct impartial investigations," she said.

In response to these allegations, the government has undertaken to open an investigation, explaining that these executions may have been carried out by armed groups (jihadists, editor's note) using army uniforms and logistical means stolen during attacks. , according to HRW. Djibo is located in one of the regions most affected by jihadist attacks. Burkinabé law enforcement officials have been repeatedly accused in the past three years of serious blunders and extrajudicial killings of civilians in their fight against jihadist groups.

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On May 12, 12 of 25 people arrested for "suspected terrorist acts" died in their cells at the Tanwalbougou (eastern) gendarmerie, a case that caused a stir. Relatives of the victims, including a member of parliament, and NGOs, said the 12 were in fact civilians caught in a roundup and were summarily shot in the head. The prosecutor has excluded this hypothesis.

Burkina Faso is plagued by frequent jihadist attacks, sometimes interspersed with inter-community conflicts. These attacks have left more than 1,100 people dead since 2015, and forced nearly a million people to flee their homes.